French toy and games manufacturers and their responsibility towards children, 1891-1911[Les fabricants de jouets et jeux français et leur responsabilité sociale vis-à-vis de l’enfant, 1891-1911]

The French Federation of toy and games manufacturers was established on the 30 April 1891. The minutes of its meetings, of its annual and extraordinary general meetings, allow us to trace the Federation's growing awareness of its social responsibility with regard to the child consumer for the products its members manufacture. In them we find its advertising policy, the conditions for the publication of a professional journal French Toy, where it progressively asserts its ethic with regard to children's products, its participation at international trade fairs and industrial exhibitions (Chicago, Hanoi…), etc. Its concern about the quality of products lead to the creation of a trademark used by all French manufacturers, identifying for instance and among other topics, adherence to the legal regulations on colors permitted for toys (1901), to the circulation of an article on hygiene and poisoning related to toys (1906), which gave rise to numerous legal measures and to debates on the toxicity of paints used on toys for the health of children. The analysis of these archives allows us to trace the evolution of these debates with regard to the responsibility of companies, not only from a legal point of view but also from a moral perspective.